Nikolaos

Nikolaos (1068-1149) was a Greek Cypriot Assassins Master. He was responsible for thwarting the first attempt by the Crusaders to take over the Holy Lands from the Saracens in 1111.

Biography
Nikolaos was born on Limassol, Cyprus, in the Byzantine Empire. He was an ethnic Greek Cypriot, and his father Vasileios was a member of the Assassins. He was trained in the arts of assassination and stealth and in 1085 his father was responsible for the execution of Robert Guiscard, with his help. Through Robert's death, he heard that the Templars planned to expand eastwards to capture the Holy Land from the Saracens and Assassins.

He found out soon enough that the Pope had proclaimed a Crusade, and he was responsible for sabotaging the People's Crusade of 1096. However, his father was killed in the Fall of Jerusalem, and Nikolaos was captured by the Crusaders. He was to be held in a jail in the city of Acre, but en route he escaped. Nikolaos noticed that there were Spanish soldiers that he had killed, causing a question: why were the Spanish in the Holy Lands if they had not yet conquered their own lands? He planned to demoralize the Crusaders, killing Peter Bartholomew after he had gone through the inspiring trial by fire. Shortly after, he found out that Berenguer Ramon II of Barcelona was also in Jerusalem. He decided that he needed to find out about the Spanish involvement in the Holy Lands.

He interrogated Berenguer Ramon at his camp and found out that Alfonso VI of Castile was planning to launch a new crusade to capture the rest of the Holy Lands for his people. Nikolaos killed the Count of Barcelona, having completed his interrogation. Nikolaos fled from Jerusalem and laid low. He heard from a fellow Asssassin that the man Radwan of Aleppo was a great leader and a friend of the Assassins, but also heard that he was usurped by Duqaq of Damascus, his brother. Nikolaos headed to Damascus and killed Duqaq, and met Radwan, and the two were friends. From 1104 to 1110 nothing important happened, with Nikolaos staying as Aleppo as an honored guest, but in 1110 he found out that the Spanish had invaded Cyprus to get a new base. The Governor Vasileios planned to hand over Cyprus to the Castilians, so Nikolaos assassinated him before he could. The Byzantine garrison was determined to fight on, and battle raged as Nikolaos made his escape. He settled in Limassol until the siege ended in 1111, and he killed merchant titan Niccolo Agostino, who had sold weapons to Templar agents. After killing him, he found out of a meeting in the castle in Nicosia between Alfonso and some associates, so he headed to the castle to eavesdrop.

While in the Nicosia Castle, he overheard Alfonso saying that Castile needed allies for a new invasion of the Levant. Hugh IV de Lusignan promised French support and Roger Borsa promised that Italy would fight once more. As the group disbanded, Nikolaos assassinated Alfonso and put an end to Castilian involvement. He also heard of discrepancies over who should lead the army, and bribed some Lusignan guards in order to reach Roger. Borsa was also assassinated, knocking Sicily out. He finally ended the plot by heading to France and slaying Lusignan before he could ready his army and fleet. He found out from Lusignan that they already had men inside the Holy Lands under Tancred of Lecce, and he told Nikolaos that there was no stopping the Templars.

Nikolaos ignored these words and traveled to Antioch, where he put an end to Tancred after hearing that he was usurping power from Bohemund II of Antioch. Nikolaos overheard him say that Radwan of Aleppo, the main leader of resistance against Tancred, was as good as dead already. Nikolaos rode to Aleppo to prevent his assassination.

It was too late, as Radwan was poisoned by Alp Arslan al-Akhies ibn-Radwan, a Templar agent. In 1114, Nikolaos entered the palace of Aleppo and killed Alp Arslan to stop him from burning Hashshashin and as revenge for Radwan. Nikolaos' murder of Alp Arslan put an end to the Templar plans to take over the Near East for almost 80 years.

In 1120 Nikolaos heard that a crusade to take over Milan was launched in Italy by Henry V of Germany. In 1125, after the Crusaders took over Milan, Nikolaos assassinated Henry as he campaigned in France. The death of Henry V impaired the plans to take over Milan, who gratefully let Nikolaos stay there. However, he continued in his role in assassinations, and in 1146 he killed Zengi, who had used a Piece of Eden to take over all of the disunited Muslim city-states. In doing so, he caused enough chaos to lure out Templars into launching the Second Crusade of 1147. He had the opportunity to find the center of the conspiracy, Grand Master Robert de Craon of the Templars. On 13 January 1147, he killed Craon and weakened the Templars, ruining their plot. By 1148, the Second Crusade had been destroyed.

Nikolaos died of old age in Damascus while seeing the Crusaders retreating from their failed siege, a sight that he had worked hard to see. He was buried under the Bureau of the Rafiq of Damascus, and was honored as a key Assassin.